Leave
by bonniebonbon
Summary: "Family reunions were never pleasant affairs." Sirius leaves his family – now what?


Family reunions were never pleasant affairs. Sirius Black of all people knew that.

This one, however, would be the worse of them all.

Even though he had practiced and practiced in front of a mirror in his room, even though he knew that this day would come, he still wishes that there was a way he could avoid confrontation and disappear without a sound.

When his _dear mother _scowls her typical scowl and screeches her regular screech he realizes, his heart sinking, that today is the day.

Today is the day that he would leave.

:-:

He isn't sure what he is feeling. Is he angry? Resentful? Ashamed? He decides that he is all three; helpless.

He has _nothing_. He has _nowhere_. He has _no one_.

Sirius usually appreciates the beautiful night sky, but tonight he can't bring himself to tilt his head up and admire the stars.

:-:

He had climbed out of his bedroom window after he had thrown his trunk down onto the wet sidewalk. He didn't want to see his family–if he could still call them that. Without a doubt, his face would be burnt off of the family tree tapestry the next morning.

Moaning when he landed with a _thump, _he lifted himself up off the neatly trimmed grass. He wiped his muddy hands on his jeans and grabbed his trunk from the sidewalk. He dragged it behind him as he walked away to nowhere.

He willed himself to not look back.

:-:

He walks for another hour before stopping at a muggle coffee shop. His feet are blistered and he is drenched from the pouring rain–he wears a maroon sweater, but he hadn't bothered to pull up the hood while he was walking, simply because he didn't care. He pushes open the rusty door with his freezing hand.

A bell chimes as he steps into the small, run-down shop. The turquoise paint on the cracked walls is peeling off and the light bulbs on the ceiling are burnt out. He sets his trunk by a table and goes to the counter.

"The strongest coffee you've got," he says, pulling out some Muggle money from his pocket. He hands a handful of coins to her. "Keep the change." He walks back to his table and lifts his legs onto the empty chair across from him.

He looks around the shop. There is only an elderly man sitting ten feet away from him, reading a newspaper from two weeks ago. Sirius makes small talk with him, seeing as he has nothing else to do.

"Your coffee, sir," the lady at the counter says. Sirius gets up and takes it from her, muttering a quick, "Thanks." He leans on the wall after he sits down and takes a sip–he struggles to keep his eyes open. "Excuse me, sir," he says to the old man. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Quarter to 2," the man replies, glancing at his second-hand watch. "Got somewhere to be?"

Sirius shakes his head. "Is this place open all night?" he asks again, this time to the brunette cleaning cups behind the counter. She nods, and continues to dry the chipped mugs.

_Well, I don't really have any other choice, _he thinks bitterly to himself. He throws out the coffee (it tasted horrible) and slams his head on the table. Five minutes after closing his eyes, he dreams of happy times from what seems like centuries ago.

:-:

"It's about time."

Sirius sits up and rubs his eyes. Slowly, he opens them. A red-haired girl sits on the chair across from him, a book in hand. He almost falls off his chair when he realizes how close she is to him–the table is quite small.

It takes him a couple of seconds to remember what happened the day before and where he is. His back aches, and his clothes are still damp. Sunlight pours through the windows, and the small shop doesn't look as run-down as it did last night.

Sirius clears his throat. "Uh…who are you?"

"Oh right. I'm Harriet. You're Black, I know." She turns back to her book.

"Excuse me?" Harriet sets her book down.

"I saw the crest on your trunk, and I recognized you. Sirius Black, the rebellious Gryffindor with the pureblood family."

"Not anymore," Sirius mutters under his breath.

"Huh?"

"I left."

"Oh."

"How long have you been watching me?"

Harriet raises her eyebrows. "Watching you? I was reading my book, thank you very much. I have better things to do then watch you, you know."

Sirius smirks. "Better things than me? Nah."

"I'm glad she's not into _you_," Harriet says under her breath.

"Who?"

"L-Lily."

"You know Lily?"

"We're best friends, goddammit! Of course I know her!" the girl exclaims. She instantly covers her mouth, her eyes wide.

Sirius's eyes also widen. "Marlene?"

"Uh…who's Marlene?" she asks innocently.

Sirius rolls his eyes. "Next time you try to fool me, don't say you're Lily's best friend."

The girl pouts. "It was an accident! Besides, took _you _a while. Remus knew it was me from the very beginning." She smiles smugly and ruffles Sirius's messy hair. "Pity, you don't even recognize your own friend."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Sirius asks incredulously. He feels his face go red from Marlene's hair tousle and prays she doesn't notice.

"Much more fun fooling you." She reverts back to her normal appearance–blonde hair, blue eyes, and very pale skin. Sirius watches in amazement as she changes her appearance, despite her doing it a million times before. "Metamorphmaguses are so cool," he whispers.

Her trademark smirk (which looks an awful lot like his own) is plastered on her face, but it soon turns into a frown.

"You left?" she whispers, leaning in.

"Yeah."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Rather not."

"Okay," Marlene says simply. She opens up her book again and keeps reading.

Sirius, suddenly realizing he is hungry, goes up to the counter and buys breakfast. He watches Marlene's eyes move side-to-side as he chews on his blueberry muffin before something occurs to him.

"That's the first page," Sirius points out.

"So?"

"You were halfway through the book when I woke up."

Marlene bites her lip. "Okay, maybe I was watching you–"

"Creepy!"

"But it was only for five minutes, I swear–"

"FIVE?"

"Maybe ten–"

"Bloody hell, woman."

"I wasn't just watching you, though! I was doing something else!" Marlene says defensively.

"Like what?"

"Have you seen your face?" Sirius raises an eyebrow before stalking off to the washroom. Marlene snickers as he walks back, furious.

"Marlene Anne McKinnon I swear on Merlin's Beard that I will kill you in your sleep."

"Pleasant," Marlene jokes. She pulls out the black marker she had drawn on his face with and begins to scribble on her own. "Happy now?"

"God, I love you," Sirius laughs, and the pair exit the shop.

:-:

"Where are you going to stay?"

"I don't know."

"What are you going to do?"

"No idea."

"You can't live in coffee shops for the rest of the summer!"

"Can't I?"

"Sirius, I'm serious. And don't–" Marlene warns as she sees Sirius open his mouth, "make a stupid pun."

"Fine. I'm serious." Sirius bites his tongue to stop himself from making a joke.

"You should move in with Peter," Marlene says. "His mum is nice and makes, like, the best cookies in the world. Or you could move in with Remus," she adds, "he has a pretty wicked shed in the backyard."

"You know how Mrs. Pettigrew can't stand to see me," Sirius says. "Reminds her of Thomas."

"You don't even look like Thomas!"

"I kind of do," Sirius admits. "Peter showed me a picture of his older brother once, before…you know."

"If anyone can't face Mrs. Pettigrew, it's Rem. He still keeps apologizing, even though it was nearly two years ago. Poor Rem…I'm sure he feel guilty everyday for attacking him."

"Yeah. I guess it's pretty self-explanatory why I can't live with Rem. He'll constantly worry about me, I just know it." Sirius laughs nervously and pulls the hem of his sweater.

They stop walking and sit on a bench beside a lamppost. Sirius looks around–where is he? They were walking and talking for at least an hour–he wasn't watching where he was going.

"James, then. He's your best mate."

"I don't know…"

"Know what?"

"I can't just knock on the Potter's door with my trunk and ask them if I can move in!"

"Can't you?"

:-:

_Knock knock knock. _

"I'll get it, Mum!" James shouts to his mother cooking in the kitchen. He puts down his textbook (Professor Binns assigned a very long essay before the summer holidays) and opens the heavy oak door.

"Padfoot?"

:-:

"I hate you."

"I know."

"No, I mean I really, _really_ hate you."

"Yup. I'm aware of it."

"I don't believe you're making me do this!"

"You'll thank me later."

Marlene drags along a reluctant Sirius by the sleeve and walks down a street in Godric's Hollow. It's around lunchtime–they had walked and talked for the entire morning.

:-:

"How come you were at the café, anyway?" Sirius had asked as he licked a chocolate ice cream cone. Marlene ordered a blue-raspberry one, which Sirius commented was 'ridiculous.'

"Fate, I guess," Marlene shrugged. "I go there whenever I stay with my dad. He lives across the street from it."

"You're staying with your dad this summer?"

"Yeah."

"Are you guys…"

"Ha. Like that's ever going to happen," Marlene scoffed. She took another lick of her ice cream.

:-:

"Almost there! Now, remember, just ask. It'll be fine," Marlene now says. Sirius realizes that he is only three houses away from James's house. His heart pounds in his chest.

Sirius tries to avoid thinking of James and decides to think about Marlene instead. He wishes that she and her dad got along better–he told her to tell her mum about Sam McKinnon's drinking problems, but Marlene didn't want to worry her, especially considering that You-Know-Who was recruiting more and more _death eaters _each day.

Does he like her? Hm. He thought about this multiple times before. She is, easily, the prettiest girl he knows–and she does make him happy. Really happy.

"We're here! Now go knock." Marlene pushes Sirius towards a big oak door and nudges him with her elbow. All thoughts of Marlene disappear and are replaced with rapid heartbeats. _Will James let me stay with him?_

Sirius takes a deep breath and knocks three times.

:-:

"Hey," says Sirius lamely.

"What are you doing here?" James asks. He ushers him in and closes the door. Sirius, expecting Marlene to follow, is surprised when he spins around and she is nowhere to be found.

"Uh…well, I left."

"Left? Left wh–oh." James nods with understanding after he looks down and spots the Hogwarts trunk by Sirius's feet.

"You wanna move in?"

"If it's okay with you, yeah." Sirius says, shrugging. He acts casual but he knows full well that if James doesn't let him live with him, he'd end up on the streets.

"Hey Mum, Sirius is moving in with us, okay?" James yells loudly.

"Great! Lunch is in twenty," comes the reply.

:-:

"One month with James! How's it like?" Marlene questions a month after Sirius left his family. Marlene and Sirius sit on the ledge of a fountain in the middle of a muggle shopping centre.

"Wicked," Sirius smirks. Marlene rolls her eyes.

"I told you so!"

"Yes, yes, no need to be so snobby about it."

"I'm not snobby!"

"Suure," Sirius laughs. "So, what's the great news? You owled me a letter saying you had to tell me something good," he says curiously.

"I finally did it," Marlene whispers excitedly. Sirius's mouth falls open.

"You, Marlene McKinnon, are _brilliant,_" he shouts gleefully as he hugs her. "You did it, you really did it!"

"Uh-huh! I finally figured out how to get rid of the drinking addiction! I mean, he said he'd quit before, but he always broke his promise–this time, he'll actually stop!" Marlene chatters animatedly. She rambles on about all the different ingredients she added to the potion, the amount of times she had to stir it–Sirius has never seen her so happy. He is surprised to learn that seeing her happy made him happy, too.

_Very_ happy.

Perhaps his friends were more like family to him than his family ever was.


End file.
